Mal was tired of mainstream media misrepresenting COVID-19 and Long COVID, so she picked up a mic and a camera and told the story herself. Thus, Lola Germs was born.

In this episode of Still Here, co-hosts Miles Griffis and Betsy Ladyzhets talk to Lola Germs about her path from online COVID-safer community member to viral science communicator, and the research behind her latest project, “what if everything we thought we knew about disease spread was wrong?” She traces the history of airborne disease science from early miasma theory through germ theory’s overcorrection, the overlooked mid-century research of Mildred and William Wells, and the contemporary scientists who tried (and failed) to get the World Health Organization to act on airborne spread early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Links mentioned:

• what if everything we thought we knew about disease spread is wrong?
• The 60-Year-Old Scientific Screwup That Helped Covid Kill | WIRED
• Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe
• Indoor CO2 Map
• Follow Lola Germs on Instagram, YouTube, and Bluesky

Oonagh Cousins was preselected for the Tokyo Olympics as a professional rower on the British team — until Long COVID derailed everything.
In this episode of Still Here, co-hosts Miles Griffis and Betsy Ladyzhets talk to Cousins about developing severe Long COVID at the start of the pandemic, her years-long attempt to return to elite training, and the relapse that ultimately forced her retirement in 2022. She is one of many professional athletes grappling with infection associated chronic conditions, including NHL player Jonathan Toews, tennis player Emily Radacanu, and many more. Cousins reflects on how her athletic background reshaped her understanding of rest, toughness, and listening to her body, and speaks candidly about pushing back on harmful “brain retraining” programs.
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Links mentioned:

• Research updates, July 14 - The Sick Times

• Emma Raducanu has post-viral syndrome. And commentators are giving her terrible advice. - The Sick Times

• NBA player Kristaps Porziņģis shares POTS diagnosis - The Sick Times

• Grappling with Long COVID as an elite athlete - The Sick Times

• Long Covid course is ‘exploiting people’, says ex-GB rower - BBC

• The importance of understanding rest - by Oonagh Cousins

• Follow Oonagh's work on socials: @oonaghcousins_longcovid
  @visible.health
  

To wrap up LGBTQ+ Pride Month 2026, The Sick Times hosted Virtual Pride, a COVID-conscious drag show featuring queer and disabled performers in the Long COVID community from across the country, hosted by Sick Times contributor and poet Khalil Dennis.
In this episode of Still Here, we’re sharing the Q&A that followed the show. Performers Taipei, Mondo Millions, King LOTUS BOY, Ginger Ail, and Katie Drackert open up about the ancestors and mentors who shape their work, camp and absurdism as tools against denial and fascism, the unlearning required to embrace disability, and where they find queer joy outside of Pride Month.
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In June, the Food and Drug Administration approved the drug Xocova (ensitrelvir) as the very first post-exposure prophylaxis for Sars-CoV-2, and if taken within 72 hours, it could stop a SARS-CoV-2 infection in its tracks. The drug is also being studied as a potential Long COVID treatment and even maybe as a preventative. But how accessible will this drug be?
In this episode of Still Here, Betsy Ladyzhets talks to co-host and Sick Times co-founder Miles Griffis about his reporting on the drug, the manufacturers, the studies behind it, and what it could mean for the disease.
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Links Mentioned:

• FDA approves COVID-19 antiviral Xocova as PEP. But will it be accessible? - The Sick Times

• Research updates, June 23 - The Sick Times

As many governments shutter and defund their Long COVID programs, Minnesota is ramping up.

In this episode of Still Here, co-host Betsy Ladyzhets talks to Kate Murray (Minnesota Dept. of Health) and Terri Wilder (#MEAction) about Minnesota’s recently launched Roadmap to address Long COVID and other post-viral conditions, and how their broad coalition led to a human-centric plan forward.

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Links Mentioned:

• Minnesota’s Statewide Roadmap to Address Long COVID and Post-Viral Chronic Conditions

• Long COVID Funding Opportunities - MN Dept. of Health

• More Resources from Minnesota: Long COVID A Post-COVID Condition - MN Dept. of Health

• www.meaction.net

• Past stories from The Sick Times on Minnesota’s Long COVID program:

• • Minnesota’s unique Long COVID program retains funding following advocacy - The Sick Times

  • Minnesota House budget proposes eliminating state Long COVID program - The Sick Times

  • $11 billion CDC funding cuts may decimate Long COVID response in several states - The Sick Times

  • Millions of Americans have Long COVID. Will Kamala Harris acknowledge them? - The Sick Times

When you’re sick, eating can be pretty miserable.

In this episode, Miles Griffis talks to writer and artist Aisha Mirza, founder of misery collective and author of misery meals: a crip community anti-cookbook for when eating and cooking is hard. Miles and Aisha discuss the book, how Aisha went from an anti-foodie to a cookbook author, and what it looks like to be in community even from the solitude of your own home.

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Links mentioned in this episode:

• Buy misery meals (worldwide shipping): https://ko-fi.com/miseryparty
• Sign up for misery's newsletter: https://miseryparty.substack.com/subscribe
• Follow misery on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/miseryparty/
• Follow nutritionist Kaysha Thomas on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kayshathomas/
• Cooking is terrible by Misha Fletcher
• Depression Cooking by Sonali Menezes
• Cookbooks by Ruby Tandoh
• Research Updates
• Vyvgart brought us back to life, but the Long COVID trial was canceled. We are calling on the NIH and HHS to study the drug.

The U.S.'s flagship Long COVID research program has received over a billion dollars in funding and had years of input from people with the disease. But its first round of clinical trials are failing, at least in the results out so far.

In this episode of Still Here, producer Melanie Marich talks to co-host and Sick Times co-founder Betsy Ladyzhets about the initial results from the NIH’s RECOVER trials, and why those results have left many patients and advocates in the Long COVID community disappointed.

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What happens when your body and the climate break down at the same time?
In this episode, Still Here co-host Miles Griffis talks to Lorraine Boissoneault, science journalist and Sick Times contributor, about her new book, Body Weather: Notes on Chronic Illness in the Anthropocene. Lorraine shares how she came to see the links between her own chronic illness and the broader climate crisis, from barometric pressure and wildfire smoke to mold and flooding, and why she believes the crises facing chronically ill people and the planet are two sides of the same coin.
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